The Frenchman has competed on the European Tour and is a member of his country’s finest generation of golfers.
Adrien Saddier has added even more lustre to The Gecko Tour’s sparkling status. The young Frenchman won the tournament held at The San Roque Club and Finca Cortesín, finishing final round with an overall total of 212. A closing 73 at San Roque, where the whole third round was played, was enough to give him a two-stroke victory over German Patrick Kopp and finish six ahead of another Frenchman, Adrien Bernadet, and Sweden’s Anton Karlsson in joint third place.
The San Roque and Cortesín event is one of the most eagerly-awaited each season on The Gecko Tour, and once again it fulfilled expectations. Two courses providing an intense European Tour level challenge, and capable of pushing players to their limits – as was amply demonstrated this week. Only Saddier and Kopp managed to finish under par after three days of competition, and no player was able to beat the course in each of the three rounds. The winner conceded it had been a tough battle. “The conditions this week were very difficult, with a lot of wind and challenging courses. It was a good test.”
Saddier is yet another prestigious winner for The Gecko honour board. He is 23 years old and one of the most promising young talents in the thriving French golf scene. He enjoyed a magnificent career as a an amateur, winning major tournaments, making it as high as number 10 in the world rankings and shining among a brilliant generation of French golfers including Victor Dubuisson, Alexander Levy, Gary Stal and Romain Wattel – all now well established on the European Tour and with several victories behind them.
“They set a fine example for French golfers to follow. They are the pacesetters and I believe they are helping to make golf more important in France,” said Saddier during the trophy presentation.
Saddier actually had his European Tour card in 2014, secured rapidly – just a few months after turning professional, through the Qualifying School. He was unable to retain his card after that debut season, but left clear signs of what he is capable of: for example, carding a 64 in the third round of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and playing in the penultimate group on the final day.
Saddier himself admitted that season had been a great learning process. “It was all very quick. Moving from amateur to professional I had to change some things in the way I played, and that’s not easy to absorb. Nevertheless, I have the feeling that I played well.”
The French golfer is now aiming to return to the European Tour. He has a Challenge Tour card and is confident he can regain a place on the main tour. The Gecko is helping him along this path. “It’s a fantastic circuit. It’s really good for players to be able to come here and play in winter when that’s impossible in other places.”
The tournament was also highlighted by the presence of England’s Barry Lane, a European golfing legend, now a senior, who missed the cut by just one stroke; as well as Roman Šebrle, one of the greatest athletes of all time, an Olympic champion and world record-holder in decathlon.
The next Gecko Tour event will be played at the Miguel Ángel Jiménez Academy in Torremolinos, from 6 to 8 March. The first round will be pro-am and the next two only for the pros.